The addition of a visible exhalation (such as smoke or exhaust) or a collection of particles (such as fairy dust) is a feature that can add real excitement to products, particularly toys. Examples of this are toy trains that appear to emit smoke, toy planes that appear to emit a jet exhaust, fairy wands that appear to emit fairy dust, superhero figures whose super powers are visible as simulated fire, freezing or colored emanations, etc. And there are many other possibilities, some of which have not yet been ideated in current products but will appear as products continue to develop different characteristics over time.
Products are not commonly constructed with features that actually produce smoke, fire, vapors or etc. because of size/materials limitations, safety concerns and cost. Therefore, such features are commonly realized through substitutions that simulate or evoke the effect of the various exhalations—for examples in toys: using mist to approximate smoke and using waving fabric to invoke the illusion of fire, both of which techniques give a general approximation of the named exhalations.
Illuminated displays within translucent containers typically use LEDs as illumination devices, are well known and can exist as many display forms, including a display that simulates an exhalation in a general way—for example when the glow from a red LED within a translucent container is taken to represent fire. As early as 1916, R. H. Hay disclosed a similar display device in U.S. Pat. No. 1,283,751, comprising three illumination devices placed inside a translucent container and selectively illuminated to produce a glowing light effect of varying color. To date there exist many other inventions that pertain to the subject matter of illumination devices within translucent containers. Apart from their use in relation to the flat fiber optic material of the present invention, no claim is made to displays using illuminating devices placed within translucent containers. The present invention pertains to the assembly of a unique visual display (the “Flat Fiber Optic Display”) that exploits the unique properties of flat fiber optic material and in so doing, may also employ additional displays in relation to or dependent on the flat fiber optic material.
Flat fiber optic material is a commercially available material made from strands of fiber optical cable that are placed side by side and glued together. Oftentimes a thin fabric material is adhered to the flat sides of the material to add stability to the material and impede cable separation from the glued whole. An illumination device disposed in optical communication with the material base edge causes light to travel up the optical fibers, emitting from the cut points of the material's top edge. In flat fiber optic material, the result of applied light to the base edge is a display in the shape of an illuminated line of light all along the cut fibers at the top edge of the material, an effect that is unique to this material.
The fiber optic cables used in flat fiber optic material can be any diameter and are typically end-glow cables where light emanates only from the cut end of the cable. The present invention pertains to use of flat fiber optic material that uses unmodified fiber optic cables and allows for a distinct, “line of light” display. The enhanced illuminated display capabilities that arise from use of modified fiber optic cables are within the purview of this invention only so far as they serve to enhance the display quality of the distinct, “line of light.”